The History of Aquatics: 1800 - 1895.

1804 The Seaman's Friend, better known as a lifebelt, is invented by W.H. Mallison. Mallison wants to introduce it to the Royal Navy (U.K.) as an aid to swimming, but the Navy is not interested. The lifebelt takes up too much room, and the Navy does not want its sailors to swim, in case they become deserters.

1828 The first known indoor pool is built in England. Nine years later, the National Swimming Society of England holds the first swimming events and competition in the Western World. It marks the start of present-day swim competitions, and the first interscholastic competition continues to present time.

1830 A Viennese floating pool introduces the first structure resembling a diving tower, complete with integrated ladder; springboards soon follow.

1844 Two North American Indians, named Flying Gull and Tobacco, are invited to London by the National Swimming Society of England. They swim the length of a 130-foot pool in 30 seconds and Londoners are flabbergasted. One observer declares that the Indians "thrashed the water violently with their arms, like sails of a windmill, and beat downward with their feet, blowing with force and forming grotesque antics." Even though the style of the Indians is faster, it is not copied. Forty years later, the Indians' "totally un-European" style is reintroduced as the crawl, a stroke so rapid that it revolutionizes competitive swimming.

1847 A periodical publishes a reference to a "swimming skate invented in France a few years ago." This might very well be the first reference to the surfboard in Europe.

1851 Seven years after the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) is created in London, it establishes its first American branch in Boston. In 1856, sports programs begin at Y facilities, but the programs emphasize dry-land sports, not aquatic endeavors.

1867 Charles Steedman, a champion swimmer in England and Australia, writes Speed Swimming, the first technical book on swimming. ISHOF calls him "the first notable contributor to the development of competitive swimming as a recognized sport" and states that "his seminal work set the stage for the beginning of the modern era of swimming, later in the 19th century."